Chinese Information Communications Technology (ICT) provider, Huawei Technologies, has hit back at claims that its handsets are 'fake', following a recent notice from the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and their Kenyan counterparts to switch off over 3 million counterfeit mobile phones in the two East African countries.
The Communications Regulators in Uganda and Kenya have threatened to block all connections of suspected counterfeit mobile phones beginning end of October and November this year.
Threats to block connections of counterfeit phones has reportedly sparked fears among some Ugandans and Kenyans, who own devices made by the Chinese company, that Chinese goods, such as Huawei products, could be perceived to be fake.
Wind Li, regional representative, Huawei Technologies, has hit back at these perceptions, saying his company created a competitive edge by introducing original devices that ensured quality user experience at affordable costs.
“Huawei adheres to the laws and regulations of the countries we operate in while meeting all the product requirements," he said.
The company’s smartphone portfolio in Uganda and Kenya includes the Huawei IDEOS, IDEOS X5, S7 Slim, and most recently the Ascend Y100, Huawei Media Pad and Honor.
In a statement, Francis Wangusi, director general of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), said the attention of the commission has been drawn to a misconception in the mobile phones market that all handsets manufactured in China or by Chinese firms were counterfeit.
"The Commission wishes to state that China has globally recognised companies whose products and solutions are being used worldwide by top operators, and which meet CCK requirements in respect to quality and type approval,” he said.
"Consumers are therefore, advised to verify whether the handsets they wish to buy are genuine by sending the IMEI of the handset via sms to 1555.
"The response received from this system, which has been set up in liaison with device manufacturers should be the only foolproof yardstick for determining whether the handset is genuine or not," said Wangusi.
He urged members of the public to purchase mobile phones from vendors who were duly licensed by CCK in order to see the CCK-type approval certificate of the model of the handset they wished to buy.
In Uganda the executive director of the UCC, Godfrey Mutabazi, said they have begun discussions with different stakeholders on how the issue would be resolved.
“We will not de-activate the already active sim cards being used in counterfeit devices because we are still in discussions with industry players on the way forward,” Mutabazi said.
"But no new one will be activated,“ he added.
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